The Receptionist: An Education at The New Yorker

Author: Janet Groth

Year Published: 2013

Description: With the dream of becoming a writer, Janet Groth took a job as a receptionist at The New Yorker in 1957, and spent the next 21 years behind the receptionist desk on the 18th floor. Groth’s position afforded her “a bird’s-eye view of everything” that went on at the magazine, from writer’s rivalries to office romances. This coming-of-age tale takes a reflective look at the years spent behind the receptionist desk, a tenure during which Groth struggled with her identity as a writer and with the frustrations of a stalled career.

'I entered the workforce before the feminist era, and as I ponder the way women in general failed to thrive in that world, how often they were used and overlooked, I recognize that I was part of a larger historical narrative'

 The Receptionist

What does this book have to do with the U.S. Department of Labor?

The Department of Labor touches almost every aspect of working in America, including: